Quotes on posters: they’re just taken from reviews, once reviews are published.
Er, not always…
This article originally appeared onDen of Geek UK.
BournemeetsInception, screamed the poster for the underratedThe Adjustment Bureau, back in 2012.
It had attracted Oscar attention.
The problem, though, was the source of the quote.
It was an honest quote from the pages ofTotal Film.The issue was that it came from a preview feature.
But its but one example of where the magical quotes that appear on movie posters tend to appear from.
But you would not always be correct.
To be clear, though, the majority of movie poster quotes do originate this way.
Outlets had previously complained that their words were being misrepresented, and this seemed like a nice compromise.
So far so good.
But inevitably, things get murkier.
Theres arguably an advantage to the profile of an outlet in getting a poster quote.
But where else do those quotes come from?
Well sometimes, from people who havent seen the film concerned at all.
Specifically, the anticipation quote.
The first call we ever took about one of these was a good few years back.
This isnt just a holier than thou moment, although we appreciate it may sound it.
That felt odd then, and feels odd now.
Somewhere in the middle of all of this is an approach that tends to be used by small distributors.
Thus, selected journalists tend to be approached.
This happens a lot.
Some are more happy to provide quotes than others.
You dont have to provide a quote, and you do watch the film first.
The excellentThe Shiznitwebsite nailed the best way forward in an article back in November 2013.
But then many critics now attempt to sidestep being quoted on posters.
Somebody said recently that I never get quoted on posters, Mark Kermode told us back in January.
And I was kind of rather proud of that.
Sometimes theres only a downside to it.
Its hard not to see his point.
Those instant reactions have a habit of forming the poster quote.
Maybe thats all being a bit picky.
